A Life for a Life by Lynda McDaniel (best selling autobiographies .txt) đ
- Author: Lynda McDaniel
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âYouâd be surprised. Iâm not crazy about all the taxes and permits and red tape Iâve had to endure just to open a little gallery in the middle of nowhere. But I guess youâd say I get their frustration, and I was trying to serve as a go between of sortsâa level head to help them not make big, stupid mistakes.â
âWell, they sure need that. How well do you know them?â
âNot that well. I met a few of the guys at the Whippoorwill.â She was referring to a cinderblock dive just up the road. The interior was always dark, day or night, probably so you didnât notice you were standing in a puddle of what you hoped was spilled beer. âI donât like the tension they bring to this otherwiseâat least sometimesâpeaceful town,â she continued. âBefore the gallery, I was involved in this kind of work. I was a social worker. I guess itâs in my bloodâI like to help make peace.â Her gallery did have that kind of New Agey peace-and-love look, in spite of the edgy art.
âWell, thanks, Kitt, for stopping by. Itâs closing time, and I want to get over to the jail to see Gregg again.â
âLucky you. Brower and Greggâtwo of my least favorite men, at the moment.â She headed out the door, and nearly tripped over Abit, who was leaning against the door. Cleva was sitting on a bench, clutching her purse in that way older woman seemed to do. I wondered at what age we started doing that.
ââââââââ
We didnât learn anything new from Gregg that evening. He was so in the dark, we actually brought him news. I was glad we could lend a little moral support, but that was about all we could do in five minutes. Brower was being a stickler.
Standing outside the jail, Cleva and I decided to go out to dinner. We didnât have a lot of choices in town, so we ended up at Adamâs Rib. I wasnât in the mood for the specialâbaby-back ribs, home fries and beansâand apparently Cleva wasnât either. We both ordered salads, though Iceberg lettuce and wan hothouse tomatoes werenât enough to call dinner. We added one order of barbecued chicken.
âHoney, that man looks devastated. I hope he doesnât have to spend much time in that jail. Brower must be loving this. Heâs always been sorta jealous of Gregg.â
âJealous? Or just on a power trip?â
âBoth, probably. But I think he might be jealous of the way folks naturally enjoy Gregg but not him. People like that are sadâlike a kid watching others play but not knowing how to join. They jump in and next thing you know, theyâve started a fight.â
âWell, I donât care about Browerâs sad upbringing. Like Freud said, sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.â
She chuckled. âEven I know thatâs not quite how he put it, but I get your point. Letâs drop that and talk about you. You seem kind of jumpy.â
âSure, arenât you? The injustice that Gregg, of all people, would be wrestled out of a meeting and thrown in jail?â
âI donât mean that. Yep, Iâm pissed off about whatâs happened to Gregg, but Iâve never seen you so alive. So, soâas the kids say, in a groove.â
I stopped mid-bite and put my drumstick down. I wiped barbecue sauce from my face, more for time to think than good manners. She was right. I was getting to work again at what Iâd spent my whole adult life doing: interviewing people, digging deeply into a story, and even sometimes righting injustices. Being a journalist had been exciting, especially in D.C., where the culprits I dealt with were often players in the biggest show in the world.
âI guess youâre right,â I said. âThis is what I used to do, and it made life interesting.â
âPast tense?â
âOh, letâs not go there.â
âOkay, but thereâs something else. I mean, you seemed kind of jangled. Obsessed even.â
Dammit, Cleva could see through a blackout curtain. Iâd recently realized that my dogged search was fueled, in part, by a memoryâand a load of guiltâfrom a tragedy a year earlier. âWell, there is something else,â I said.
After a long silence, Cleva said, âAnd?â
âSomeone killed herself, in front of me. Sheâd been depressed for a while, and Iâd been a pretty loyal neighbor and friend. I didnât abandon her when she got in dark moods. I stuck around, including some harrowing evenings listening to her rant. But it wasnât all badâweâd had some fun times, too. Then one night she had me over for dinner and started telling me what a shit I was. I should have known it was the depression talking, but I decided to try some tough love. I told her she needed to get more help. Sheâd refused drugs, and for a while, that made sense. I mentioned that she might want to try a prescription, just short term to help her out while she worked on her issues. I added that she couldnât go on the way she was living. She ran from the living room into her kitchen, dumped the spaghetti sauce and pasta and boiling water on to the floor, grabbed a kitchen knife, and shouted, âYouâre right. I canât go on like this.â The slashes she made were the serious kind, right down both arms. I called 911, but she bled out before they arrived.â
Everything tumbled out so fast, all Cleva could muster was, âOh, I see.â She sipped her iced tea, gathering her thoughts. Finally, she said, âHoney, that makes sense, what you said about redeeming the past. The way I see it, lifeâs built on our past, though we canât stay mired in it. Weâve got to move on. But you couldnât not have seen that scene in your head. Iâm sorry youâve had that happenâtwice.â
âThanks, Cleva.â I looked around for the waiter; I needed something stronger than tea. After he brought me a beer, I took a drink and went on. âAs long as Iâm spilling my guts, I want you to know that my interesting life is not past tense. Yes, Iâve had an exciting life, maybe too exciting. I was ready for a change, which is why I moved here. Then along comes something big again, and Iâll admit, it does feel good to be in that groove again. But you know, the store keeps me on my toes, tooâordering and maintaining inventory is a juggling act. And customer service is a new challenge for me.â I tried to chuckle, but it caught in my throat. I drank more beer and continued. âFortunately, the real jerks in town donât come in, not even for beer. I think theyâre pissed that I wonât sell tobacco, which in North Carolina is worse than burning the flag. But I love folks like you and Abit and Myrtle and Roy and ...â
Cleva interrupted. âYou sound like youâre trying to convince yourself.â
âYouâre good, Cleva, but this time youâre not one-hundred percent right. Sometimes I do have to give myself a pep talk, but right now, sitting here with you, eating terrific North Carolina barbecue, even the Iceberg lettuce tastes good.â
âGood to hear. Iâm feeling mighty fine about your sitting here, too. Now, what kind of pie should we order?â
Duane and me and the Rollinâ Store were on the road by seven-thirty. Over a couple of weeks, weâd gotten our act togetherârefilling the paper bag bins when we got back from a run, restocking inventory Tuesday evening, and such as that. That cut down on time we needed Wednesday mornings before we rolled out. I felt useful for the first time in my life.
Otherwise, everything else exciting had slowed to a crawl. Nobody was running into the store with the latest news or sitting outside the store with me, hoping to pick up on some gossip about Gregg.
Speaking of Gregg, he was out on bail. Della explained that a lot of accused murderers werenât allowed out, but Gregg werenât likely to skip town and didnât have no record. The Forest Service got him a lawyer from Asheville, Alfred Bonner, and he got the judge to agree to bail. No one who really knew Gregg for a minute thought heâd killed that girl, except maybe Brower. Oh, and them militia guys. I heard Roger Turbin talking about how they was glad it were a govâment man in jail. (That was how they said itâgovâment. Even I knowed better than that, and I only finished fifth grade.)
Della wouldnât let it rest, though. Even Cleva told her to slow down. Iâd been thinking Cleva enjoyed the chase as good as Della (not that enjoyed were the right way to put it). But Della said it was in her bloodâlike a bloodhoundâever since she spent so much time writing stories. And every time she was about to give up, something would happen. Like the call she got from Lucyâs sister, asking if Gregg were the killer. That put her right back on the track of the killer. The way I saw it, she liked the truth and went after it. Maybe thatâs why she liked me. Iâd almost always told the truth. I reckoned I werenât smart enough to tell believable lies.
After Gregg was arrested, the calls stopped. To some, that pointed another finger at Gregg, but I still didnât believe it. More likely the guilty party felt the heat was off.
I kept trying to help Gregg, but he just walked around in a daze, unable to fathom how his life had turned into such a nightmare. I invited him over for dinner so we could talk about a plan of attack. He arrived looking rumpled, as though heâd slept in his clothes. Maybe he had, or maybe I was so accustomed to seeing him in his crisp uniform, the faded flannel shirt and jeans looked odd on him. We each had a beer, and when Gregg asked for another one, I handed it to him and said, âI want you to help me find out what really happened.â
âThat would look bad,â he said, taking a long pull. I didnât follow his logic, and told him so. âDammit, Della, I canât go around the county quizzing people and acting like a law officer. Besides, everyone is looking at me like Iâm some mad rapist and murderer. I appreciate what youâre doing, Della. I really do. But if you want to be effective, you donât want me along.â He rubbed his face; the three-day growth probably itched like crazy.
âOkay, so maybe you donât go up to the door, but you could go along. Keep me safe.â I was trying every angle I could think of.
âYouâll be safer without me. All those Green Treatise idiots have poisoned everyone against me.â Before Iâd found Lucyâs body in that cove, what felt like years ago, Iâd never heard Gregg swear beyond the occasional hell or damn. His nerves were shot. I decided to let my idea drop.
We managed to enjoy the
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